


Beatin' In Lips

by patro_clus



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec deserves nice things, F/F, I suck at tagging, Lawyer Magnus, M/M, Mentions of past abuse, Mentions of past self harm, Multi, Piercings, Self-Harm, Singer Alec, alec is happy now, and friends with meliorn, band member au, bassist clary, drummer simon, everyone in the group has a song for themselves, friends with victor, lead guitarist alec, lead singer jace, magnus is grumpy when tired, magnus is nice things, mundane AU, music with a message, singer isabelle, tattooes, they're all friends with Raj
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-17 19:06:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10600287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patro_clus/pseuds/patro_clus
Summary: Alec Lightwood is the lead guitarist in a band he created with his family and friends. Magnus is a lawyer who needs sleep. They're both neighbors, and the music is keeping Magnus up.-The title is stolen from Beatin' In Lips by Beartooth. There isn't much mention of abuse or self-harm, but it is meaningful to the plot.





	1. Chapter 1

Magnus groaned, rolling onto his stomach and holding a pillow over his head, attempting to muffle some of the noise from next door. After living in the apartment for about three months and having to deal with the horrific music from next door, he had had enough. 

Almost every other night the neighbors would get together with their little band and practice until midnight. If the band played indie rock, or some other hipster-related music, Magnus wouldn't have minded. But no. This was heavy metal. The loud, aggressive, yet meaningful music that teenagers listened to. 

Magnus was not a teenager. He was a thirty year old grown ass man and he needed sleep. And the rock band next door was keeping him from getting any. 

The man practically rolled out of his bed, not bothering to look in the mirror at his bed head and horribly dark eye bags, and stomped out of the door after putting one of his silk robes on. 

He made his way over to the neighbors apartment door and knocked. Magnus had a plan to be as calm and collected as he could be and politely ask them to be quiet. Or find somewhere else to practice. Or break the band up. Anything that would make the noise stop. 

After a few minutes with no response and no falter in the music Magnus pounded on the red colored door, hissing when his hand began to hurt after. Yet again no one answered so Magnus banged the door knocker while practically beating down the door with his other hand. 

He almost laughed when all the instruments stopped abruptly and played one final off key note. There was (not so) quiet chatting until somebody finally opened the door. 

It was a blonde man with tattoos scattered all over his skin. He also had smaller sized gauges that were black in color. He was also wearing mostly black, which didn't Surprise Magnus in the least. 

“Can I help you?” The man asked and Magnus didn't miss how his voice was a little scratchy. He was probably the lead singer (or screamer, Magnus didn't know).

“Yes, actually. I just wanted to ask you to quiet down please? It's past midnight and some people are trying to sleep.” Magnus asked politely only for the blonde to scoff.

“Quiet down? We’re trying to get this song perfect, so we can't stop until we do.”

The man narrowed his eyes. “Why can't you just practice tomorrow afternoon? When people are at work and not trying to sleep?”

The man laughed at the request as if it was the funniest thing in the world and not a polite request. “We all have jobs too, and I'm pretty sure you could deal without an extra hour of sleep. And if you haven't noticed, we’re getting the same amount of sleep as you guys and we’re still-”

Just when he was going to finish his speech another man walked over to the door, this time with raven colored messy hair and hazel eyes. He had the same amount of tattooes as the other, maybe even more, and the most noticeable one was a wing sprawled against his neck. He didn't have any earrings, but he did had an eyebrow piercing just above a scar. 

Magnus was never attracted to men who looked like they were still going through their emo phase, but this one looked like a god. He was tall and muscular and probably one of the most attractive people Magnus had ever laid his eyes on. 

He shoved the blonde out of the doorway and back into the room, them turned to Magnus. “I'm sorry about Jace. He can get kind of douchey during practice.”

“I can see that.” Magnus mumbled and the man laughed. “I'm Alec, Jace’s brother. Do you need something?” He asked.

“I just came here to ask you to quiet down. I have to leave for work at six.” Magnus rephrased and Alec nodded understandingly. “I'll end practice for tonight. I didn't realize we were keeping anyone awake I’m- uh, no one has actually asked us to quiet down before.”

The man rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and Magnus couldn't help but think how adorable it was. Alec also had a light shade of pink spreading over his face. Magnus hadn't expected someone who screamed for a living to be so shy. 

The musician looked over his shoulder and yelled out to his band mates, informing them that practice was over for the night. A few groans were heard, but the one enthusiastic cheer didn't go unheard. Or the small smack sound that came after that. Or the small ‘ow!’ sounding from the room.

“Again- I'm sorry. We uh, we’ll try to change up our practice schedule.” Alec said reassuringly and Magnus smiled at him. Suddenly he remembered that he was currently wearing wrinkled pajamas with a horrific bed head and no makeup whatsoever. He was also barefoot.

“I have to go sleep now, so..” He trailed off in a quick getaway and Alec nodded, telling him good night and closing the door while Magnus walked away. 

Magnus made it back to his apartment and practically sprinted to his bed, ready to get a well deserved rest.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any spelling mistakes! I hope you enjoy :)

It was now a week later and Magnus was happy to say that he had slept quite well. Ever since he confronted the neighbors they no longer practiced at night. Now they practised in the afternoon, usually when Magnus was at work or out with a friend. Sadly he hadn't managed to see Alexander since that night, but it didn't surprise him since he hadn't seen any of the band members before. Were they some kind of hermit's?

Magnus turned down the hallway towards his apartment, pulling his keys out of his coat pocket. He had just finished up with a client who wanted to press charges against their babysitter. The woman was obnoxious and not at all knowledgable in the relm of law, which caused the lawyer to become frustrated. All he wanted to do was go home and take a bath, maybe have a glass of wine. Just as he made it past his neighbors door he could hear the banging of drums and the strumming of guitars. The melody was surprisingly soft, softer than what he had heard the other night, and it made the man stop in his tracks. The keys were still dangling from his fingertips, going inside now an afterthought as he listened to the music.

No one was screaming, nor singing. It was simply instrumentals. 

The lawyer continued to listen, his eyes on their door though he wasn't actually looking at it. Magnus had to guess that it was either the begining or ending of a song judging by it's simpleness. Magnus could feel the vibrations of the bloor boards against his feet, even through his shoes (he remembered to put them on this time). They must of had pretty amazing speakers. 

Magnus stood their for a few seconds, soaking up the surprising beauty of the music emitting from his neighbors instruments. He wasn't sure which instrument Alec played, but he was almost certain that the man was amazing at it. 

Absentmindedly Magnus ran a hand through his raven colored hair, at peace with himself for that short moment in the whole day. His hate for the woman from before had slipped out of his mind, being replaced with wonderment and an odd sense of understanding. Magnus wasn't sure what he was understanding about the music, but the mood of it just seemed so familiar. It was all too odd and bewitching at the same time.

Soon enough the Bane was lost in the melody, his mind foggy and gaze unfocused. Magnus had stood their for god knows how long, not even noticing when the music stopped. The man was brought out of his daze when the door infront of him opened, revealing the raven haired boy from before. Alexander.

Magnus looked up at the younger man, his eyes widening and a faint blush rising on the back of his neck. "Did you need something?" Alec asked Magnus, obviously confused as to why his neighbor was standing directly in front of his door, on top of his doormat.

"No, I just...I was about to go inside." Magnus sheepishly waved the keys in his hand around, unbelievably embarrassed. Bane mentally cursed at himself, seeing how bad the situation looked. How could he let himself zone out like that? And on his neighbors doormat of all places?

"Oh." Alec said, then the two stood their for a few seconds in awkward silence. Neither of them didn't know if they should continue the conversation or just go back to what they were doing. Magnus almost screamed in relief when a girls voice sounded behind the tall mass that was Alexander.

"Are you getting the mail or what?" A raven haired girl stepped forward, her neatly groomed eyebrows furrowing when she saw the frozen Magnus Bane infront of her brother. She had a lip ring and a gold septum piercing, the ends of her hair dyed a dark red and tattoes littering her body, just as Alec and Jace. "Oh. Do you need something?" If Magnus wasn't so embarrassed he would have laughed at gow the two asked him the same exact thing.

"No, I don't. I was just about to go inside...but I got kind of distracted by the music." 

Alec nodded. "Was it too loud again? We made sure to only practice in the afternoon, like you asked, but It's okay if we have to unplug a speaker or-" Magnus shook his head, a small smile gracing his face as he let some of hum embarrasment fade away. "I was admiring it, actually." The lawyer corrected and almost screeched when the band member smiled down at him in disbelief. He was now able to see that Alexander had a smiley piercing.

"You like our songs?" Isabelle asked him, not expecting the rich man next door to have such a taste in heavy metal. Though she had learned over the years that people don't exactly fit up to what they look like on the outside. 

"I've never actually listened to your songs closely, but I heard the end to your song and thought it was nice."

"Thanks." Alec smiled, his hazel eyes sparkling as if he had just recieved the most appealing compliment ever. "If you want I can give you the name of our band? It wouldn't kill to listen to a few of our songs, would it?" Isabelle asked, always the one to try and promote their group. They already had a decent fan base, yet she was always trying to get more people to listen to them.

Magnus stood their for a few seconds, wondering if he should take the girl up on her offer or not. After deciding that it really wouldn't kill him to listen to their group he nodded, watching as the two siblings smiled once again. Izzy reached into the pocket of her ripped jeans and pulled out a small business card-type paper. She handed it to Magnus, and he grabbed it and stuck it in his jacket pocket. "Thank you."

"It's our pleasure." The woman said then pushed her brother forward slightly, making him tumle into the hallway beside Magnus. "Now if you'd excuse us, Alec still needs to get the mail, and we need to get back to practise."

Magnus nodded and walked over to his apartment door, unlocking it and slipping inside. He sighed, facepalming because of how idiotic he must have looked.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any spelling errors, I lost my glasses today. <3

It was a bright friday afternoon and Magnus was off of work. He hadn't had anyone contact him for legal help in about three days, and Magnus was loving his free time. Currently, the raven haired man sat on his couch, his legs sprawled across the leather and a glass of wine in his hands. There hadn't been anything appealing on cable, so now he was scrolling through the LGBT section of Netflix. The lawyer wasn't sure if he would rather watch something informational and real like Paris is Burning, or take it back to the classics and watch Queer as Folk.

The man decided on Queer as Folk, his ability to avoid Justin and Bryan non-existent.

Magnus watched a few episodes, starting from the pilot, before he took a look around his apartment and saw how messy it was. Magnus didn't usually have time to clean his house hence most of the time he was working, and figured that now would be the best time to clean it. He started with cleaning the kitchen, which only consisted of doing dishes and sweeping. Next he did the living room and his bedroom, then made his way over to the area surrounding the front door.

The Bane moved the shoes that we forgotten by the door into their rightful place that was the shoe closet, then moved on to pick up his jacket that was sitting on the floor for a few days. Magnus bent down and scooped up his jacket, only to look at it in confusion when something crumbled under his hands. Magnus grabbed it with his other hand, reaching into the pocket he just grabbed onto, and pulled out a small piece of paper from it.

He unfolded it, suddenly remembering the other day when Isabelle had given him her bands business card. It was simple really, a matte white card with the bands logo and contact information. Magnus looked at the logo, deciphering the letters and finally reading the bands name. 

Prize of Freedom. 

Magnus raised a brow, wondering about the story behind it. But the man didn't find it odd, he found it extremely beautiful. It was meaningful and promising; something Magnus could appreciate.

Magnus Walked back into his living room, deciding that his apartment was clean enough for his liking. He spun around the HP laptop he kept on his coffee table and opened it up, typing in his password and opening up youtube. Magnus searched up Prize of Freedom and looked through the videos that popped up. There were a few music videos, but most of them were lyric videos.

The man decided on watching the music videos first; curious as to how well put together they would be. The first video had around twelve thousand views, and had been made about five months ago. Beatin' In Lips it was called. 

He pressed play, watching as the camera slowly zoomed in on the group of band members. It was a simple scene; black background and gray paint splattered floors, their logo set up behind them and a couple barrells of fire placed around them. It was obvious that the group didn't have much funding for the videos, which was understandable since they were just up and coming.

Magnus could recognize three of the members. Jace, who stood in the front with a microphone in his hands, Isabelle who had her hands on an electric guitar, and finally Alexander who was also standing infront of a microphone. There were two others in the group; a drummer and a bassist. The drummer was a brunette boy and the bassist was a girl with amazingly orange hair. They were all young; that was obvious.

He halted his inspection of the group when screaming and a small guitar riff filled the air. How subtle.

It was Jace who started it, an angry expression on his face as he screamed. Sung? Magnus could only listen to the sounds, not able to understand the first few words until the end of the line where he heard the blonde asking a question. 'Do you feel strong ruining the lives of everyone you love?'

Magnus listened closely now, intrueged by the whole thing. Alexander and Jace would switch parts singing, the raven haired boy actually singing while the other screamed. Alexander had such a nice voice. Throughout the video different scenes were shown; the main one being the black room, while other scenes were the three siblings along as different young adults (who he guessed to be their friends) bloodied and bruised, taking place at different beat up houses which he guessed were abandoned houses the group had come across.

The song actually wasn't bad, not at all. The music and tone was extremely perfect, the message was strong and obvious. Magnus was able to tell that the group was talking about something a few of them had been through: abuse. 

Jace and Alec had hard expressions on their faces as they performed, the disgust and agression genuine, the pain in their eyes obvious. They spoke about how abusers were horrible people and they encouraged the victims to stand up for themselves and escape the situation, meanwhile telling them that they were cared for. 'This is for the kids with the soul like mine.' Magnus had different emotions swimming around his head. Pride for how they were standing up for themselves and others, anger for how they had to go through such a horrible thing as abuse, and pity. The man was a lawyer, of course he had worked with many abuse victims before, but he could never get over how much he hated the fact that people would abuse their own children and their significant others.

Magnus couldn't comprehed why anyone had abused those siblings. He would never understand why anyone would do that to somebody. The scenes were genuine and emotional, probably reenactments of what had happened to them throughout the years. 

When the song ended Magnus was speechless. He knew now how meaningful the music genre had been, why so many people are fans of it. Why people said it saved their lives.

Magnus spent time watching all of their music and lyric videos, hearing every message and experience flow out of the group members mouths like a prayer. He saw how the different band mates switched intruments and singing parts, seeing how talented the younger people were. 

Magnus couldn't believe he ever wanted Prize of Freedom to break up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know in the tags Izzy is a singer and Alec is a lead guitarist but the band switches up roles in a few of their songs. The tags are just their main positions.


End file.
